


Reminder

by Talinor



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: #keithforlotor'shalfgalrababesquad2017, Alternate Universe- Canon Divergence, Emotional Comfort, Established Relationship, General Keith (Voltron), M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-27
Updated: 2017-07-27
Packaged: 2018-12-07 15:36:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11626572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Talinor/pseuds/Talinor
Summary: "In truth, I was... worried for you, actually."He picked out the first question that came to mind at that statement. "...What do you mean by that?"-Being the new head of the Galra Empire doesn't allow a lot of downtime.Thankfully though, they manage to squeeze in a conversation. Feelings ensue.





	Reminder

**Author's Note:**

> this was going to be goofier but the more I kept writing the more serious and heartfelt it got  
> this was the result   
> the keitor tag here doesn't have enough fluff (or at least not dark, unhealthy relationship stuff) yet  
> I plan on fixing that  
> enjoy!

Lotor sighed. A wall of diamond shaped holo-screens of various sizes nearly covered his view, casting him in their bright pink glow. Most of them covered different news stories: Voltron attacks or scared colonies looking to their Empire for a 'stronger reception' against said attacks. (He couldn't help but bitterly scoff at those- like they somehow _weren't trying hard enough already.)_ The rest but one listed maintenance notes for the few ships to survive the last attack. 

The last and biggest one was an obituary. Hundreds upon thousands of brave souls who gave their lives for the good of the Empire. Faces and names his dear father didn't care enough to look at. Lives he'd been more than happy to waste in pursuit of reliving days long since passed. He'd been too blind and reckless to learn from their mistakes.

And now he'd left his only son to deal with the headache of his supposed 'legacy'.

Lotor leaned back in his admittedly very comfortable Yggris-leather chair and closed his eyes, massaging his temples. This was the first truly quiet moment he'd been able to snatch up outside of after hours since he took up his father's 10,000 year mantle. 

Ever since he accepted Haggar's offer, nearly every waking moment was dedicated to meetings with the Commanders and/or Druids, keeping the general public as calm as he could manage with an ongoing galactic war, and other such fun activities. All of which made him seriously consider jumping out of the nearest airlock.

The only reason he hadn't already was because he didn't want to subject the poor fool after him to all this. They weren't likely to do better than him. It'd be better for everyone involved if he stayed where he was- trying not to get crushed under the monumental pressure.

For once, the chilling air of his main office held blissful silence. No concerned council. No aggravating reporters. Just him and the barely noticeable hum of the holo devices. He let his tense muscles loosen for the moment, trying to relax for as long as he possibly could. Marmora knows that any moment now this moment would be rui-

A few rapt knocks sounded from his office door a few yards away.

Well. There it was, right on cue. At least the break was nice while it lasted.

Prince... technically now Emperor Lotor opened his eyes immediately and moved his hands away from his head. Instead, they set to turning off all the holos. He flicked the little red button's clear case on his console open and pressed it, turning off all the screens in the office. Most of the people he would suspect to be at the door didn't need to see what he was looking at.

To be quite honest, he couldn't help but feel a bit annoyed at whoever it was. He knew the moment of peace wouldn't last forever, but he wanted it to be at least a little bit longer.

"My lord," a familiar muffled voice called. "May I come in?"

 _Keith_ was the one visiting him. That changed everything. His annoyance dissipated immediately.

He sat up in his seat. "Of course," he said. "You know you don't need to to ask, my friend."

The deep lavender door slid open smoothly to reveal Keith in his usual uniform. He'd managed to convince Haggar that his 'entourage' was merely just hired guards in specialized armor. She was still loyal to his father. She wasn't ready to know what his task force was really for.

Keith shrugged, stepping forward into the expansive office. "I know." He confessed as he stepped up to Lotor's adamantium console. "But I didn't want to intrude on..." Stormy purple eyes scanned the holo devices lined up in front of him. The little red light on most of them was still fading to darkness, revealing his very recent use. He glance back up to Lotor, expression unreadable. "...whatever you were doing."

Lotor merely smiled. "Thank you for respecting my privacy," he raised a brow. "Now, why are you here?" He leaned closer, voice barely a cautious whisper. He didn't know if there were listening devices in his new office yet, but he didn't care to be reckless. "Do you have news about...?"

Keith shook his head. "No," he said at the same level. "Not yet, at least. My contact drone hasn't notified me in a while." He leaned in a bit closer over the console, careful not to accidentally press any buttons. If there was anything they didn't need most of all right now, it was to have this conversation broadcasted to the entire Empire. "The Green one may have found its hidden data."

His brows furrowed in concern. Drones tended to carry a lot of information. Most of it was seemingly useless- automated ship repair notes, hours of footage patrolling the halls, and other such things. But in the hands of one patient and determined enough to sift through it all, that information highlighted weak points they couldn't afford to reveal. If that was the case, this war might get a bit more difficult.

"What did you have on there?" He tried to stay hopeful, despite the heavy stone of doubt sinking through him. Keith was smart. He could have covered the tracks of anything important and Lotor could just be worrying over nothing. But he couldn't help but worry. It was how he'd managed to last so long, after all.

Keith smiled. "That's the thing," he said in a lighter tone. "I filled the drone with hidden garbage data and a few viruses. If the Paladins managed to crack the secret cache open, all they'd find is at least a few minutes of annoyance." He looked to Lotor with self-satisfaction. "No need to worry, my lord."

The worry dissolved faster than aquatic Jehlos on land. Never in his life did he want to hug someone more than he did right now. Thank the Creators Keith always thought of everything.

He didn't even try to hide his sigh of relief. "Thank goodness." There was enough heaped on him right now. One less thing to worry about was practically a blessing from above at this point. He raised a brow. "Anything else to report for now?"

"Of course there is." Keith told him. "Isn't there always lately?"

Lotor couldn't help but chuckle. "You truly have no idea, dear friend." He picked up the obituary holo device just in case. "So what is it?"

"Haggar sent me up here to remind you that the meeting with the Druids is in a couple minutes," he shrugged. "Though why she doesn't just send you a message is beyond me. It'd be a lot easier."

"What can I say?" Lotor stood up. Some designers had him set up with armor made to look like his father's, cape and everything, for his coronation. He still wasn't sure how to feel about it, but Haggar had convinced him it would make the 'transition' easier. "She's old-fashioned like that."

"Right," Keith said. "She does seem to be that way. The whole 'back in my day we just _talked to each other_ kids these days have it easy so on and so forth' type."

"Oh, she _is,"_ he agreed. "She and Father dearest shared that little obnoxious trait, believe me." He puffed up his chest and tried out his best Zarkon voice. "If you were in the Voltron training program back in the day, you wouldn't even have been the water boy! This isn't tough- I beat this simulation level as a _newborn!"_

Keith smiled and raised a brow. "Let me guess- he also did it barefoot, backwards, in the harsh snow, and he loved every moment of it?" He extended a finger for each point.

"Definitely," he said. "That was usually the part that came after. Either that or that I was the biggest disappointment he'd ever experienced and I'd never account to anything useful in life. Depended on his mood that day." A bit of pride swelled in his chest. Guess Father was wrong after all. If he was nothing else, he was a man fueled by spite. That thought certainly put him in a better mood. "But you have to give Haggar a little credit. If she didn't send you up, you would have missed out on your favorite event of the day."

He leaned against the closest wall. "Oh?" He asked in a teasing tone. "And what would you think that would be?"

Lotor held his arms open to show all of himself. "Seeing _me,_ obviously."

Keith chuckled. "I'll go on and let you believe that." He eyed the holo in Lotor's hand. "What's that for?"

He moved his arms back towards him. For a moment there, he'd forgotten he was still holding it. Or why he even picked it up in the first place. Guess he should really get back to work. "It's the obituary list so far," he said. "Every Galra soldier and the number of drones lost to Voltron in this war." He looked down at the small grey circular device. "At least, I believe it is." Without a word of warning, Lotor threw the device over to him.

Unsurprisingly Keith still managed to catch it. While barely moving in the process. He wasn't a valuable team member just for his looks, after all. It was good to test your agents' reflexes once in a while.

"Could you be a _dear,"_ Lotor adopted a teasing tone. "And run down to the databanks to confirm that we're not missing anyone?" Unlike Zarkon, he wasn't going to forget the dead so easily. Every drop of blood spilled would be a macabre reminder. Every voice silenced would be morphed into a deafening rallying cry. Every move meant to demoralize would instead galvanize.

But until the day he was allowed to meet the Paladins- whether in negotiations or on the battlefield- this was all he could do. But he was still going to do his absolute best at it. That was what the Empire truly deserved.

"You've really been around Haggar too long," Keith told him. "You're even starting to _sound_ like her." The tone he used and the expression he chose showed that it was nothing more than light ribbing. But something about it felt... off somehow. He couldn't put a finger on it- just _something_ felt off about it. 

If Keith had his way, he'd bury whatever it was deep down. If he repressed it enough, it would go away. Whatever was troubling him likely would never see the light of day.

But that wasn't Lotor's way. He wasn't one to stand by and ignore anything important enough to hide, especially not when whatever it was bothered his best agent.

"Keith," he stepped closer to him. "What's bothering you?"

Keith seemed... surprised, to say the least. Whether it was from the sudden soft tone or the question, Lotor couldn't tell. Hopefully it wouldn't matter much.

"What..." He reached for the right words to say. Something to deflect the new conversation topic as far away as possible. "What... are you talking about, my Prince? I'm perfectly fine."

He was _not_ fine. The only way it would be more obvious is if he hooked up a giant neon sign and held it up everywhere he went. 

Lotor got closer. There wasn't too much distance separating the two now. "You can lie to everyone outside this room all you wish," he put a gentle hand on a tense shoulder. "But as both your superior and your friend, I ask one simple thing of you." Piercing blue eyes met uncertain purple ones. _"Please_ don't lie to me. What is bothering you?"

Keith licked his lips and seemed to look at everything but the person in front of him, not even trying to hide his nervousness anymore. "It doesn't matter," he lied. "You have other pressing matters to attend to, and-"

"Forget them." Lotor interrupted him without hesitation. Both of his hands were firm on Keith's shoulders now. "None of them will _ever_ be more important to me than you." An awful thing for a leader to say, but every word of it rang true. His words quickly lost their edge. "So what is on your mind? Speak freely."

"I just..." Keith sighed, his shoulders deflating. "I remember when we were just considered a 'no good ragtag group of... _Sih-tarans.'" 'Unwanted ones' and/or 'half-breeds'._ A name never said to someone's face. He spit the ugly word out like it disgusted him. "Now we're the top guard force for the Emperor himself and I..." He finally met Lotor's gaze with a rare vulnerability he didn't like revealing.

Ah.

He might understand what Keith was trying to say here. But it was always better to make sure.

"Forgive me if I'm wrong," Lotor started. "But are you... _worried_ I might forget about you? That I'll forget our own good old days?" He smiled. "Because I promise you, that will never be the case."

Keith smiled halfheartedly. "Thank you for the reassurance, Lotor," he said. "But that wasn't what I was worried about." Another sigh, with the slightest shake to it this time. "In truth, I was... worried for you, actually."

He picked out the first question that came to mind at that statement. "...What do you mean by that?"

"I mean," Keith started. "Leading the entire Galra Empire is one hell of an upgrade from leading a small merc group." One of Keith's hands went to his shoulder. "I mean that the weight of billions of people rests on your shoulders." He gave Lotor a knowing look. "And believe me, it shows." 

A calloused hand dared to cup his Prince's chin lightly, like the entire ship might collapse if he was handled wrong. Lotor didn't dare move. He barely even breathed. Mainly in the fear that if he did, this... _moment,_ this blessed rare indescribable suspension would end far too soon. Voltron could tear the whole base apart right now and he would barely notice.

(Do hearts usually go this fast or was it just him? Maybe he was dying and he just wasn't noticing it.)

Keith's earnest eyes reflected the dim light of Lotor's office far too well. Lotor couldn't help but be enchanted by the simple yet mesmerizing sight. "I know you, Lotor. You'd rather drown under it all than inconvenience someone else with your problems." The smile on Keith's face was genuine now.

He barely had time to see it before something leagues better enveloped him. Strong, slightly battle-weathered arms wrapped around him and pulled him into their comfortable warmth as close as their bodies would allow. Lotor did not resist- though the smell of keliberries Keith's dark unkempt hair carried was duly noted. As was the fact that Keith had to straighten up a bit for his lips to be level with his Prince's ear.

"When you dive back in there in the next couple minutes," Keith whispered. "Just remember to come back up for air every once in a while. Not just because your subjects need you..." The hug tightened for a split second before loosening back up. His next words brought a shiver of surprise down Lotor's spine.

_"But because... I need you."_

**Author's Note:**

> I will slip shakarian references into my fics till the day I die i stg   
> comments are always appreciated!  
> my tumblr: squishy--squish


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